[squidtone]

JImib,
I get what you're saying; your pix tell the story pretty good. It is a tricky thing he's suggesting. Does it appear that the lower door hinge is "biased" to one extreme of adjustment to compensate for the lower hinge pillar being pushed in (from possible old accident damage?) If so, then pushing the lower pillar back out without a come-along at the hinge area would let the lower hinge area come back closer to spec at the same time.

But if the lower part of the pillar was pushed in and the hinge mount point did not move from that damage, I guess it would be safe to somehow prevent it from moving if you attempt the portapower approach.

Is there some way to just measure the distance between the lower pillars and compare to a known good car? I would feel better if I knew it definitely was bent or not.

Or, could it simply be that the door hinge is adjusted so that door bottom is pushed too far out from some other bodywork in the past? The door hinges do provide a shockingly large range of adjustment.

Anyway, your repairs look good. You are getting close....

[jimib]

I used the come-along as I stated above, then a 2x4 and sledge hammer beneath the hinge which brought the bottom portion of the pillar out a ¼”. Then, when the body guy came over, he somehow manipulated both sides of the vehcile and doors and now both outter rockers are flush with the door. No Porta Power needed.

This body guy who’s helping me is dealing with financil problems exacerbated by a couple DUI’s here in FLA and as junior person at his shop he’s last to get the work; only if enough fender benders come in that the seniors can’t do. He’s truly a good person going through tough times and I have a history of DWI’s (up norths as they are called) many years ago as well. He told me that he would have the floor pans installed in four full working days (8 hours) and he would charge $15.00 per hour. I decided to pay him $25.00 per hour as an incentive to do good work. Even by Florida standards (low wage state) I think I’m getting a good deal. So, he’s worked three full days and this Saturday he states he will have the pan installed. This part I could do it myself, but I promised him the work and he can do better work than me.

Here's a few pic's to show progress and hopefully more on Saturday.

[GT182]

Looks great Jim. We could use guys like him everywhere... he cares about his work. Not many like that around these days. DUIs are a tough lesson to learn from, but it seems he's pulled thru.... shake his hand for me.

[CrappieCat]

Have you looked at this for inside repair
http://www.squidsfabshop.com/bodyw2/GTObody2.php

[ITSBACK]

Squid does some nice work, I'll be doing the same on mine.

[jimib]

The pans, braces, and inner/outer rockers are now installed. My body guy says all that it needs is to be “stitched up”; by that he means welding between the tack welds to make the entire structure stronger. Areas to be stitched are the two floor halves in the center, along the right and left outer rockers, up along the existing metal at the fire wall, and additional metal will need to be added were the two half floor left about a ¼” gap in a few areas. The braces behind the rear seat somehow needs to be reattached. I put all new hinges on the doors and WOW, the close with barely an effort; it’s almost like they want to close on their own. Just a slight push with the index finger and BAM, they fully close.

My body guy wants to continue with my project but I have limited funds. I think I can do the rest from here on. For the work completed thus far, I paid him $850. To you body guys; is this about right? Did I get a good deal? Does he deserve more?

P.S. Squids web page (by Dave) is highly educational and his contribution to this thread is enormously helpful. I hope he keeps his advice coming.

[mikes2nd]

Originally Posted by jimib

The pans, braces, and inner/outer rockers are now installed. My body guy says all that it needs is to be “stitched up”; by that he means welding between the tack welds to make the entire structure stronger. .

yeah its not bad, sounds about right.

this work can get insane in cost, be honest with him about running out of funds.

Practice some more and stich it up if you can.

I am doing something similar, except I cut out my whole floorpan(no rust)...

Custom build... It pained me to completely hack out a clean floorpan/firewall of a 70 gto

[zephyrracer]

Looking real good Jimi, your post will be real helpful for when I get back on my project, keep the pics and info coming.

Gregg

[jimib]

Yeah; that’s why I’m posting plenty of pictures, so that others may learn just as I’m being educated.

[jimib]

Hello All,

Today I’m installing the front clip and naturally using new bushings and hardware. My dilemma is after I tighten the clip to the frame with the bushings, bolts, and nuts, the front clip leans outward. I didn’t expect perfection but I didn’t expect the extreme angle as shown in the pic’s. I realize the wheel wells have to be installed at about the same time and then tighten all bolts gradually which may reduce or fix this problem.

Any ideas why the above is happening or how to assemble the front clip and inner wells?

[squidtone]

Jimib
Don't worry about how that core support sits. It's massively "rubbery", at least with the rubber bushings. And it does lean out a little bit nominally anyway. You definitely have to keep those bushings loose until you get the fenders and wheel wells installed. In a way it's a huge pain in the butt to have so much adjustment range...you just don't know where to start with the front clip alignment.

In fact depending on the car, you may have up to 3 or 4 huge fat washers to space the core support up or down.

If that core support is new to the car, then I suppose it is possible that it's bent...but I can say that the core support is simply stamped up sheet metal and the mount points can be bent a bit very easily with some wood and hammer action.
I have first hand experience of "tweaking" my support since my car must have had a front end damage early in it's life. The boxed areas where the bushings bolt to were easily straightened with some clamps and a two by four.
But anyway, I think you'll be fine...put on the rest of the sheetmetal...

I bolted on my fenders with the wheel wells attached. It's a bit tricky, but I managed. Some folks put the wheelwell on first.
Pic attached shows how my core support looked when I put it on.....leaning forward!

[jimib]

Thanks Dave; I will do what you said by getting the front clip and inners attached and then gradually tighten it all down. This has the original front clip; I just sand blasted, cleaned and painted with high gloss Rustoleum. The inner’s are all bent up but I’ll have to make do; I have to spend 1000’s on interior parts.

Thanks so much for the pic; looks just like mine (-: Bummer though mine isn’t a rag top (-:

[400 4spd.]

See if this helps.

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...ghlight=fender

[jimib]

I would like to point out a few issues for feedback from the pro’s here and hopefully educate the novices like me.

As I’ve stated earlier, I have an auto body guy (Mark) comes over once in a while to assist me moving this project along. He found poor workmanship at the quarter panels from when I had an auto body shop replaced 20 years ago in Maryland. Mark; a mild mannered man, had some colorful words and inflammatory things to say about the previous workmanship. He pointed out that only tack welds were utilized to affix the replacement quarter to the good metal. These welds are about ¼” apart or more. Reaching inside the trunk to feel the seam we noticed that no seam sealer was used. This could be why I was noticing welds pushing up on the paint. Possible moisture got up in there? Mark has made a one solid seam on the driver’s side and the passenger will be next. The pic’s with “Passenger” in the name show the work that needs correcting. The pic’s with “Driver” in the file name show what needs to be welding shut or one seem.

[jimib]

I would like to point out a few issues for feedback from the pro’s here and hopefully educate the novices like me.

As I’ve stated earlier, I have an auto body guy (Mark) comes over once in a while to assist me moving this project along. He found poor workmanship at the quarter panels from when I had an auto body shop replaced 20 years ago in Maryland. Mark; a mild mannered man, had some colorful words and inflammatory things to say about the previous workmanship. He pointed out that only tack welds were utilized to affix the replacement quarter to the good metal. These welds are about ¼” apart or more. Reaching inside the trunk to feel the seam we noticed that no seam sealer was used. This could be why I was noticing welds pushing up on the paint. Possible moisture got up in there? Mark has made a one solid seam on the driver’s side and the passenger will be next. The pic’s with “Passenger” in the name show the work that needs correcting. The pic’s with “Driver” in the file name show what needs to be welding shut or one seem.

[jimib]

Pictures

[400 4spd.]

Mark is right. I've seen the same problem on some cars I've done, someone in the past tack welded the panel and hid the seam with filler. Expansion and contraction causes the bumps on the surface, not always moisture.
I either very lightly warm the seam with a torch and wire brush the filler out, or media blast it out. Then I can get clean welds. Can be very aggravating to fix on a long panel.

[jimib]

Hello All, hope your holidays are safe and enjoyable.

Soon, I’ll be buying the seat padding and upholstery kit for front/rear seats. I need to know if the seat springs lose their elasticity over the past 47 years. A complete set of springs is not cheap and being that I’m spending so much money on this project, I don’t want to buy something I don’t need. The seat frames are fine, I’ll just sand blast it then paint. The auto body guy who I hired to do so much of this work said a little sheet metal welded in the right areas would make it stiffer to my desire.

Opinions appreciated.

[zephyrracer]

Thanks for the post Jim Merry Christmas.

Gregg

[jimib]

We are at the stage of sanding down to bare metal in sections. I removed all the trim around the windows including the windows and the fizzies. We primed with 2K primer. My autobody guy said when we are ready to shoot the exterior paint in a rented booth, he’s going to shoot the inside as well. He’s certainly old school; smoking a ciggarette while shooting primer. LOL